Friends of Edmund Celebrate Heritage Week: New Orleans Continues to Reflect

I left for New Orleans with my life heading in one direction. I returned with it heading in the complete opposite direction. Growing up my older sister knew what she wanted to do from the day she was born. I never had a plan for my life. I did not have a clue what I wanted to do. As a sophomore, I declared a criminal justice major. Not because I felt passionately about my desire to work in that field, but because I didn’t know what else I wanted to do. My attitude was, “why not?”

The Iona in Mission:  New Orleans trip-the most amazing experience of my life-changed that. I was given the answer to the “why not” I had asked myself in the past. The same way I did not know what to expect when declaring a major, I did not know what to expect when I headed down to New Orleans. Spending seven days together in this amazing city, the sixteen people who accompanied me taught me more than I could have ever imagined.

One lesson I learned occurred on a ten-minute return trip from Home Depot, in the back of a pickup truck, my life changed irrevocably. Beautiful trees, cars, people and houses passed me. However, there was still so much destruction. Most of the people driving down the road have grown accustomed to the devastation. While I had my iPhone out to capture what my words couldn’t describe, the residence and every day commuters seemed to have a blank stare as everything flew by them when they carried about their day. They seem to act as if this is how things always were.

We pulled up to Trinity Lutheran Church, where we had been working and as I got up to jump out of the truck I froze and just stared. What I saw took my breath away. Twenty-five people from all over the country, who had no tie to the city, no reason to be there, were all working together, as hard as they could, to complete a church.

There was one thing off about the situation, though, and it took me a while to figure out exactly what it was. Everyone working had been working for hours; they were covered in sweat, and looked exhausted. Yet, they all had smiles on their faces.  Not only that, they continued to smile until the day’s work was done. In that moment I realized that until then, I had had it all wrong. I realized what I want to do. My passion is to give my life helping those who need it in any way I can.

People ask all the time what life the meaning of life is. This trip helped me create my own definition. An anonymous author wrote a poem that help put what I learned and experienced into words. It reads, Life is not about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call you or your number of Facebook friends. It is not about who you have dated.  are dating or haven’t dated at all. It’s not about who you've kissed. It is not about what sport you play or how your favorite sports team is doing.  It’s not about your shoes or hair or the color of your skin. It’s not about where you live or went to school. It's not about grades, money or what colleges accepted you or not. Life is not about if you have a lot of friends or if you are alone. It’s not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn't about any of the mundane “things” we allow to distract us from what REALLY matters.

The fact is, life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about how you treat and what you do for others. Life is about trust, happiness and compassion. It’s about sticking up for others and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy and overcoming ignorance. It’s about what you say and what you mean. It's about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most important, life is about touching someone else's in a way that would not have achieved otherwise.

I can truly say the trip, and its members not only touched my life; It, and they, changed it. In that one brief moment, I began a new journey.  Since then I changed my major to public relations and have been getting more involved at school.  This would make for a nice resume or college essay, but not that’s not why I do what I do.  Instead of being a student just passing through campus going about my day, I choose to be a student who extends helping hand to anyone who needs its.

The definition of compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. The Christian Brothers are the epitome and embodiment of compassion. My team and I devoted one week of our lives to help the people still suffering from damage of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Giving up our spring break may seem like a lot but it really is not when we look at the Christian Brothers, who really know the meaning of sacrifice. They devote their entire life to serving others. They gave up and give up so much to help the people around us everyday. I learned this first hand. While we were in New Orleans our Iona Men’s Basketball Team made the NCAA National Tournament. We all wanted to watch the game together and with out any hesitation the brothers provided for us. Brother Casey, Brother Concannon and the other Brothers, as well as Father Michael Joseph gave their time and opened up their Parish to us. They set up chairs, ordered food, and let us watch the game on a projector so large that felt like we were in a movie theatre. Two days later the Brothers opened up their home to us for a dinner and a reflection of the week. What really was humbling about everything they have done for us was we weren’t the ones suffering. We were there to serve other. And while we were serving others, the Brothers were still serving us. There is no tangible gift they can receive or expression of thanks that correctly justifies all the work the Brothers not only did for us, but what they do for others on a daily basis.

Yet, that is not even the most important lesson I gleaned from my trip to New Orleans. The most important lesson I learned was during the last day. We all sat in a circle, remembering the events of the week and the laughs we shared. Everyone kept saying how happy they were with the way the trip turned out. As my new friends continued to say that it hit me; we are not in control-God is.

He has a plan for me just like he had a plan for that whole trip. The church I attend at home had numerous opportunities to participate in a trip to New Orleans. Unfortunately there was always a complication and I was not able to take part. I now see that God had a planned my trip to New Orleans before even enrolled at Iona College. His plan is perfect and I am thankful for that plan because I would not exchange my experience in New Orleans, and everything He has done since then, for anything in the world. Even when we don’t understand it or see it unfolding, I know that we need to trust in Him and in His plan. Because when we do, anything is possible. Mahatma Gandhi said and I believe to be true is that “The best way to find yourself, truly, is to lose yourself in service of others.”

-Matthew Romano, '14